Silvestre Reyes dropped names of high-ranking Democratic leaders he calls his friends throughout a busy day last month as he alternated campaigning with congressional business.

From Reyes' mouth, though, it does not sound like boasting. It sounds more like a not-so-skinny farm boy from Canutillo proud that he is bringing home the fruits of one of the world's most prolific economic engines.

It is fruit that rarely had fallen within El Paso's reach in past years.

Reyes, 67, who has represented El Paso's 16th District in Congress for nearly 16 years, makes it clear to members of Kiwanis, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a senior center and the Tigua tribe that he is a well-connected politician inside the Washington, D.C., beltway.

That's a brand most politicians run from these days. But Reyes says his experience and knowledge will continue to get things done for El Paso -- if he is re-elected.

Reyes faces, for the first time in his political career, a candidate who appears to have a legitimate chance of unseating him.

Former City Rep.

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Beto O'Rourke has made an issue of Reyes' longevity, telling crowds that his opponent has lost touch with constituents and promising to pursue a constitutional amendment that would impose term limits on all members of Congress.

Also competing in the Democratic primary on May 29 are former educator and Army officer Jerome Tilghman, retiree Ben Mendoza and Paul Johnson for the Democrats. Republicans in the primary are Corey Roen, a soldier who recently served in Afghanistan, and Barbara Carrasco, an El Paso business woman.

O'Rourke's constant challenges -- in debates and through the media -- have put Reyes on the defensive.

The eight-term congressman insists he still is rooted in El Paso. He returns home from Washington, D.C., every Thursday or Friday to spend time with his wife, children and four grandchildren.

At his Upper Valley home, one grandchild grabs Reyes' knee, pleading with him to end an interview for this story and go get ice cream as promised.

The congressman says he sometimes does the family shopping at a local grocery store. "I can tell you the cost of a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas," Reyes said. "People feel very comfortable coming up to me and asking me questions and sharing their concerns. Whoever says I'm out of touch can go pound sand.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes meets with a group of volunteers, including Helen Acuna, 29, a UTEP student who is a first-time political volunteer to discuss campaign strategy. (Ruben R Ramirez / El Paso Times)

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Although Reyes does not come across as a tough guy, he has faced adversity. He served as a Huey helicopter crew chief and door gunner in Vietnam's demilitarized zone, where he performed search and destroy missions. On one mission, the crew escorted aircraft dropping flares so Marines on the ground could defend bases against night attacks.

"We flew lower than they did so we could take out the people shooting at them," Reyes said. On one such sortie, he was the only one in a crew of four who was not wounded.

During an enemy ground attack, he lost hearing in his right ear when a rocket hit the bunker where he had taken shelter.

Reyes has survived worse challenges than a strong primary contender, but his voice takes on a tone of annoyance when he talks about O'Rourke's charges that he has been ineffective. O'Rourke's measure is that Reyes has passed only six bills in 16 years.

"When you get elected to this job, you have to decide which road you're going to travel," Reyes said. He characterizes those two roads in a favorite saying; he says he is a "work horse," not a "show pony."

"Someone who knows the difference will tell you it's much more effective to attach your work to legislation that's moving and is likely to pass," Reyes said. More than 70 bills that passed through Congress have language he authored that helped El Paso, he said.

Last month, he was making campaign stops most of the day. On his second appearance -- at a joint meeting of the Coronado and El Paso Kiwanis clubs -- he hits a bump in the road by the name of Stuart O. Van Slyke.

Van Slyke challenges Reyes on drug legalization.

"I am adamantly opposed to it," Reyes says, getting out only a few more words about being a grandfather before Van Slyke interrupts.

"You are too young to remember Prohibition," says Van Slyke, his voice booming in the small conference room at a West Side motel off Interstate 10. "You can tell people they can't have something, but someone will supply it."

Van Slyke tells Reyes the drug war is a failure -- "you can buy drugs on any street corner" -- and asks whether the congressman agrees that legalizing drugs and taxing them to fund treatment and education is "the logical thing to do."

After Reyes makes a few more unsuccessful attempts to inject his opinion, Van Slyke relents.

Reyes talks about a slippery slope that could lead to legalization of other things such as prostitution.

"I don't think that's who we are as a country," Reyes said. "Legalization is supported by people who want to use illegal drugs socially. It'll cost you in ruined lives."

This is an issue Reyes has used to hammer O'Rourke, who, with El Paso city Rep. Susie Byrd, wrote a recently published book making an argument for legalizing marijuana. Reyes' anti-drug stand is not a campaign artifact.

It was cemented during his more than 26 years with the U.S. Border Patrol. Reyes was an integral part of the multimillion-dollar law enforcement machine on the Southwest Border. In the mid-1980s, when he was a Border Patrol sector chief in McAllen, drug cartel leaders made a threat against him and his family.

"Before we took over that sector, there wasn't any effort to interdict narcotics," Reyes said. "We set records for interdicting narcotics. We took out a ton of cocaine at one of the checkpoints."

That earned him the enmity of the Caro Quintero organization. One of the Quintero brothers, Rafael, was accused of masterminding the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena in 1985.

After turning down a $5 million bribe, Reyes said, "I found five bags of onions in my driveway."

"The cocaine was in a shipment of onions," he said. "It was a message that your life isn't worth a bag of onions."

The five bags symbolized Reyes, his wife and their three children. Bodyguards were assigned, but Reyes refused to move to another job.

"I said, 'No, you're going to send the wrong message if they can intimidate the chief,' " Reyes said. Ultimately, he said, the threat was "neutralized," but he would not elaborate.

The congressman is not shy about touting his experience as a shield against new threats along the Southwest border.

At a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce meeting later in the afternoon, Reyes talks about legislation he supported that will help law enforcement officials find border-spanning tunnels.

"It's a more effective way of detecting these tunnels," Reyes said. "They could be used to smuggle a weapon of mass destruction or it could be used for terrorists."

Reyes made his mark as El Paso sector chief with a program called "Operation Hold the Line," which deployed Border Patrol agents to strategic locations close to the border.

Although criticized by some for putting agents in the line of fire and for pushing undocumented immigrants into harsh desert areas, the effort gained national recognition for reducing the number of apprehensions in the El Paso sector.

Reyes retired from the Border Patrol in 1995 and was elected to Congress in 1996. The first problem he faced as a congressman was the then-imminent closing of Fort Bliss. The Pentagon, convinced that El Paso had no long-term supply of drinking water, was well on the way to shutting the post down.

Reyes worked with others to create the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, which taps a vast underground aquifer.

As a result, Fort Bliss gained more troops than any other U.S. military installation in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round. A massive expansion of the post has provided a major economic driver for the El Paso region, with more than $4 billion in federal money invested.

But O'Rourke has charged that Reyes did not take full advantage of that flow of money.

Reyes responded to a question about the number of out-of-town contractors working at the post, at the chamber of commerce meeting.

"We did a number of seminars to prepare the El Paso business community," Reyes said. Those seminars dealt with bonding capacity, keeping financial records, setting up partnerships with larger companies and aggressively marketing to larger firms, he said.

"We felt a good percentage of it (military construction money) needed to be spent here," Reyes said. About $500 million went to local contractors, he said.

"I'm willing to accept criticism if it's not enough, but by the same token, we did everything we could to provide information to provide opportunities," told chamber members.

As a result, he said, some El Paso businesses are now in a position to bid on federal contracts worldwide.

Now, Reyes gets comfortable and hits his stride.

He is like a conductor, drawing local experts into the conversation to illuminate points and identify resources, and handing off tasks to assistants.

The congressman says he is proud of what he has brought back to El Paso.

"I can tell you earmarking is not a bad thing," Reyes said. He added that "pork barrel" projects such as the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska, gave the practice a bad name.

"It's part of the work you do," he said. "I can stand up and list and defend every earmark I have gotten."

During the question-and-answer period, he also addresses his links to Aliviane Inc., a nonprofit mental-health organization run by acquaintances recently indicted for allegedly bribing a county judge to get business for another company.

Reyes called for a complete investigation of Aliviane, which benefited from one of his earmarks. Aliviane was not mentioned in the indictments.

Reyes has said it is the responsibility of city, county and state oversight agencies to ensure that the money he secures is properly used.

"I don't think it's my job to have contracts in my back pocket and hand them out to people because that's illegal," Reyes said. "It's my job to make sure there is a level playing field."

El Paso has traditionally been at the low end of that playing field. The city has had a reputation as a town populated with hardworking Hispanics who will accept low wages.

So it was no small accomplishment when Reyes, in 1996, became the first Hispanic from El Paso elected to Congress. In 1984, he was the first Hispanic to serve as a Border Patrol sector chief when he was chosen for the McAllen position.

Ethnicity briefly became an issue in February when local and national Democratic leaders said a super PAC supporting O'Rourke would "endanger the interests of the broader Latino community."

But those leaders -- U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, chairman of the national Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and El Paso County Democratic Party Chairman Danny Anchondo -- said they were saying only that large amounts of outside money could distort the democratic process for all El Pasoans, about 80 percent of whom are Hispanic.

They did not back off from giving Reyes credit for breaking into jobs where Hispanics had not formerly served.

Asked whether he believes the District 16 representative should be Hispanic, Reyes said, "It hasn't hurt me being bilingual, being able to relate."

O'Rourke claims no Hispanic heritage, but he counters that he is a fourth-generation El Pasoan and fluent in Spanish. O'Rourke says he well understands the community and accuses Reyes of having the kinds of connections that "enable" corruption.

Reyes said he has seen corrupt practices.

"We've always informed the FBI," he said. "When the word gets out that you're not interested in that sort of stuff, the offers stop."